WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln
The WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, or West German Radio Symphony Orchestra of Cologne, is one of Germany's leading symphony orchestras. The group plays the music of various periods but has specialized in contemporary music, a specialty made possible by the fact that the WDR network also maintains another orchestra, the WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln, that performs lighter music and pops material.
The broadcast of orchestral music on the radio in Cologne dates back almost to the foundation of the Richessender Köln radio station in 1927. After World War II, Allied administrators announced the breakup of the central broadcasting of the Nazi era in favor of a system of regional broadcasters that persists today. The Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester was established to serve the new Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (Northwest German Radio), in 1947; the name was changed to WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln in the 1990s. In the beginning, the group hosted only guest conductors, but since 1964, when Christoph von Dohnányi was named principal conductor, the orchestra has reliably spawned international conducting careers. Recent principal conductors have included Hans Vonk (1991-1997), Semyon Bychkov (1997-2010), Jukka-Pekka Saraste (2010-2019), and, since 2019, Cristian Macelaru. Guest conductors have included international greats: Herbert von Karajan, Karl Böhm, and Zubin Mehta, among others. The orchestra's contemporary music specialty dates back many years and has included premieres of works by Luciano Berio, Hans Werner Henze, and Karlheinz Stockhausen. This tendency, along with the WDR's maintenance of its own electronic music studio directed for many years by Stockhausen, helped to establish Cologne as a center for contemporary music. The orchestra performs at the WDR Funkhaus Wallrafplatz and the Kölner Philharmonie.
The WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln has recorded for both German and international labels. In 1989, under frequent guest conductor Günter Wand, the orchestra released recordings of Schubert's Symphony No. 9 in C major, D. 944 ("The Great"), and Bruckner's Symphony No. 5 on RCA Red Seal. The orchestra has also recorded for Wergo, Audite, CPO, and many others. Although quite prolific, with more than 80 recordings to its credit as of the early 2020s, the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln has not been strongly associated with any single imprint. In 2020, the group released its first two albums on Sony Classical, Beethoven's World, and a release devoted to the violin concertos of Franz Joseph Clement, with violinist Mirijam Contzen and conductor Reinhard Goebel.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Violin Recital: Works of Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, Berlioz & Others
Aaron Rosand, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, SWR Sinfonieorchester des Südwestrundfunks, Rolf Reinhardt, Tibor Szóke
Classical - Released by Vox Box on Jan 1, 1995
9 de RépertoireDiapason d'or16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
BRUCKNER: Mass in E minor / Motets (Creed)
SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart, Tobias Unger, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Marcus Creed, Florian Metzger, Harald Matjacic
Classical - Released by SWR Classic on Jan 1, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Successful Beginning
Martha Argerich, Ruggiero Ricci, Sudwestfunkorchester Baden-Baden, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Ernest Bour, Peter Maag
Classical - Released by Profil on Aug 17, 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart : Symphonies n°1, 25 & 41 (Vol. 1)
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Roger Norrington
Classical - Released by SWR Classic on Jan 1, 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lehár: Wiener Frauen
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Curt Cremer, Unknown Artist
Opera - Released by CPO on Jan 1, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Requiem, Apparitions, San Francisco Polyphony
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, WDR Rundfunkchor Köln, SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart, Peter Eötvös
Classical - Released by BMC Records on Aug 17, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Berg & Beethoven : Violin Concertos
Arabella Steinbacher, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Andris Nelsons
Violin Concertos - Released by Orfeo on May 23, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Eötvös conducts Stockhausen - Gruppen, Punkte
Peter Eötvös, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln
Classical - Released by BMC Records on Mar 6, 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grieg: Complete Symphonic Works, Vol. V
Camilla Tilling, Tom Erik Lie, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Eivind Aadland
Classical - Released by audite Musikproduktion on Nov 6, 2015
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 6, Opp. 67 & 68
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Marek Janowski
Classical - Released by PentaTone on Nov 8, 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Martha Argerich Live, Vol. 3
Martha Argerich, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Karl Melles
Classical - Released by DOREMI on Jan 13, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Classics on the Move
Classical - Released by Profil on Jun 15, 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn, J.: The 12 London Symphonies
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Roger Norrington
Classical - Released by SWR Classic on Jan 1, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler, G.: Song of a Wayfarer / Kindertotenlieder / Des Knaben Wunderhorn
Thomas Quasthoff, Hakan Hagegard, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Gary Bertini
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by CapriccioNR on Jan 1, 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Complete Symphonies
Marek Janowski, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln
Symphonies - Released by PENTATONE on Oct 2, 2020
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Grieg: Complete Symphonic Works, Vol. I
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Eivind Aadland
Symphonic Music - Released by audite Musikproduktion on Mar 16, 2012
Gramophone Editor's Choice24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel, M.: Daphnis Et Chloe Suite No. 2 / Piano Concerto / La Valse
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Martha Argerich, Gary Bertini
Classical - Released by CapriccioNR on Jan 1, 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grieg: Complete Symphonic Works, Vol. IV
Herbert Schuch, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Eivind Aadland
Symphonic Music - Released by audite Musikproduktion on Sep 19, 2014
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart, Beethoven & Others: Piano Works
Martha Argerich, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Peter Maag
Classical - Released by Artemisia on Jan 21, 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Prokofiev: Cinderella, Op. 87
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Michail Jurowski
Classical - Released by CPO on Aug 15, 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss, R.: Also Sprach Zarathustra / Burleske
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Gary Bertini
Classical - Released by CapriccioNR on Jan 1, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo